Today in Cold War History
1947 – The Screen Actors Guild implements an anti-Communist loyalty oath.
1953: A collision in the English Channel between the Italian steamer Vittoria Claudia and the French ore carrier The Perou sinks the Vittoria Claudia so quickly that the lifeboats could not be launched leaving over 20 Italian seaman dead.

1953 – The remaining human inhabitants of the Blasket Islands, Kerry, Ireland, are evacuated to the mainland.
1967 – Vietnam War: Acting on optimistic reports that he had been given on November 13, U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson tells the nation that, while much remained to be done, “We are inflicting greater losses than we’re taking…We are making progress.”
1969 – Cold War: Negotiators from the Soviet Union and the United States meet in Helsinki, Finland to begin SALT I negotiations aimed at limiting the number of strategic weapons on both sides.
1970 – Luna programme: The Soviet Union lands Lunokhod 1 on Mare Imbrium (Sea of Rains) on the Moon. This is the first roving remote-controlled robot to land on another world and is released by the orbiting Luna 17 spacecraft.
1973 – US President Richard Nixon tells AP “…people have got to know whether or not their president is a crook. Well, I’m not a crook”
1974 – Union of Banana Exporting Countries (UPEB) forms
1977 – Egyptian Pres Sadat formally accepts invitation to visit Israel
1989 – Cold War: Velvet Revolution begins: In Czechoslovakia, a student demonstration in Prague is quelled by riot police. This sparks an uprising aimed at overthrowing the communist government (it succeeds on December 29).